Main navigation

The problem with “chicken neck” marketing

One of my earliest memories as a child is when I was about 3 years old.We were living in Florida a few blocks from the intercostal waterway.

My Dad and I were fishing and I thought I had a big one on the line.

As I was reeling in, I noticed something peculiar.

It wasn’t a fish and I did know quite what it was.To me it looked like a monster was stealing my bait.

I tried to shake him off as I was reeling in, but he kept hanging on.

Frustrated and mad, I threw my pole in the water and ran home.My Dad was laughing all the way.

What I caught was a blue crab.And the old school way of catching them is to tie a chicken neck on a line and toss it in the water.When a crab clings on to the neck, you can reel them all the way into your net.

Blue crabs are not smart enough to know that you caught them so they rarely let go.

And sometimes I think that we are just like the blue crabs.

Hanging on to the things that we did in the past, because we do not know what the future will look like if we just let go.

Like letting go of the ineffective ways we try attract clients.

Most of us take one of two marketing paths.

The first group sticks with the chicken neck toss.They throw it at everyone they see.It’s annoying, but they keep hoping one will stick.

The other group decides not to go crabbing at all.Instead, they sit at home and wait for their prospects to call which never happens.

The truth is that neither of these tactics is effective.

There is another way.

And in my latest book, I show you how I make my phone ring without annoying anyone.

RECENT POSTS

In the early 1980’s, the Coca-Cola company was reeling from a drop in sales of its flagship product. They were losing ground to other choices in the market that were sprouting up like weeds in a garden. Wanting to stop the trend, the executives of Coke started doing blind taste tests with other products. And […]

This a great follow-up to my Dark Arts story so you don’t make the same mistake as most people. There was a good post in Lab Coat Agents today with two quotes about using fear in your marketing. In the post, Bill Harney with KCM was quoted as saying, “Your seller ads should focus on your […]

If you are running ads and feel like you are burning dollar bills and not getting results, then this story is for you. Today, I was re-watching a video of Dan Kennedy at the Titans of Direct Marketing event in 2014. If you’ve never heard of Dan Kennedy, then you should take some time to […]

It’s impossible to turn on the radio without an ad for men’s health services. And you know the kind that I’m talking about. Those ads that promise to put the spice back in your love life. Here’s some of the more “forgettable” hooks. Lost the Perk-in in your gherkin? Now available online, STRAIGHT to your […]

Most modern marketers follow Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice in his book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. They put out several pieces on content with no call to action, and then sometime in the future they finally ask their client to take the next step. While that might work for selling wine and books, it’s a terrible […]